Written Self-Expression and Peer Relations in Adolescent Identity Formation

Date
1989
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
A study of adolescent journal writing was done to find out what sex differences exist in conceptions of the self and friendships, and also to test the validity of written self-report measures on studies of adolescents. Eight male and thirteen female ninth-grade private school students participated. A journal was kept by each of the students for eighteen days. Jhe design was a two-way factorial with sex of subject as the independant variable. Developmental level of subject was also closely considered. Tone of the writings-- the overall positive or negative attitude of the writer-- was found to be affected by gender: girls were more negative than boys (p<.OS). Girls seemed to benefit more and like the task more than boys did and they were more relational than boys (p<.OS). Girls also wrote about a broader range of issues (p<.Ol) and used a larger variety of dscriptors for their friendships (p<.OS). It was concluded that privacy of writing has an effect on gender differences in writing, that journal writing is beneficial to some adolescents, and that this method of study is an important and valid one.
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